The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold its first hearing of the year on Wednesday, and with debate over higher ed reform cooling (for now, at least), focus has turned to community colleges and a surprisingly touchy topic: transfers.

For this week's nonscientific survey of political and government insiders, we turned to the elections, predictions about how many and what kind of Republicans will get elected, most important and expensive races, and what to ask a candidate if you could only ask one question.

The Texas presidential primaries don't look to be as competitive as they would have been in March, and races from the U.S. Senate, Congress and the Legislature don't have the attention of voters. That's got people worrying about turnout.

Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton has issued a statement denying that she supports Craig James in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. The James campaign had released a statement with a video touting the endorsement of Walton, whom James characterized as a good friend. In response, Walton issued a statement saying she supported Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the race.

Two Republican lawmakers have filed an ethics complaint against conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, who leads the group Empower Texans. Reps. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, and Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, allege that the group lobbied during a period when it had not filed proper disclosure forms with the state. In a separate complaint, the two House members charged that the financial wing of the organization did not file the proper financial disclosures for the second half of last year. Sullivan downplayed the allegations, saying Keffer and Truitt are trying to distract voters from their records.

In the latest tussle over the state’s voter ID law, lawyers for the Justice Department argued this week that Texas legislators should not be prevented from testifying about the intent of the new law when it goes to trial this summer. The Texas attorney general’s has alleged that the Justice Department is searching for testimony from lawmakers that will suggest discriminatory intent in the passage of the law. The three-judge panel hearing the motions in preparation for trial is expected to rule on those motions soon, since time is critical in resolving the law. A trial date of July 30 is tentative, pending resolution of the issues, but lawyers on both sides have expressed doubt about getting the case resolved quickly.

In response to a request from a British journalist, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has filed a brief with the Texas attorney general’s office asking for permission to withhold information on the size of the state’s stock of a key drug used in executions. The state contends that Reprieve, a British anti-death-penalty group, would use the data to harass the drug makers and suppliers and might even lead to violence. Ed Pilkington, the New York correspondent for the British paper The Guardian, asked for the amount of pentobarbital the state has on hand and what its backup plan is for doses of drugs to be available at executions.

In a recent letter to Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, asked the head of the Mexican government to reimburse Texas for the money it spends on Mexican citizens who are in the state illegally. Larson wrote that the state spends between $6 billion and $8 billion a year on health care and other services for illegal immigrants. The estimated 1.6 million illegal immigrants in Texas pay property and sales taxes, though, making the net effect hard to nail down. The Mexican embassy claimed it has not received Larson’s letter.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is protesting a recent ruling by the Texas Supreme Court that he says weakens the Open Beaches Act. Five of the court’s nine justices voted last week to restrict public access to a beach if it is eroded by a sudden event, such as a storm. Patterson thinks the opinion creates exclusionary private beaches in Texas and urged voters to replace the justices who voted with the majority. He also pointed out that the decision has an effect on his department — it will no longer be able to clean up debris on Galveston Island after a storm or add sand to certain beaches on the island.

The lingering water dispute between Texas and Oklahoma has taken on a new twist. At issue is an agreement between four states — Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana — that divide up water from the Red River and its tributaries, and the amount of water to which each state is entitled. After five years of legal disputes between the Tarrant County Water District and the state of Oklahoma, the case has reached the federal level, and the U.S. Supreme Court has asked the solicitor general to weigh in on the case. Attorneys for both sides will consult with the solicitor general’s office before they issue an opinion for the justices. Once that opinion is on the books, the opposing sides will be able to file briefs with the high court, which may or may not hear the case.

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, announced the appointment of Casandra Cascos Ortiz of San Antonio, an attorney with the law firm of Shelton & Valadez, to the Sunset Advisory Commission.

On April 2, in a special meeting on the phone, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents named James Hallmark the vice chancellor for academic affairs. He had been serving as acting vice chancellor since March 1. Prior to that he was provost and vice president for academic affairs at West Texas A&M University, a position he held since 2008.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed four members to the Select Committee on Economic Development:

James Epperson Jr. of Dallas, senior vice president of AT&T Strategic and Employee Communications, was named presiding officer of the committee.

Stacey Gillman Wimbish of Houston is president of Gillman Companies.

Maher Maso of Frisco is mayor of the city of Frisco and manager of Maso Asset Management.

Carlton Schwab of Austin is president and CEO of the Texas Economic Development Council.

Deaths: John Chase, an architect and former president of the alumni association at the University of Texas, one of the first two black students enrolled in a southern university, the only black architect licensed in the state for the first ten years after he graduated, and a Houston power broker. He was 81.